Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a conventional coin counting apparatus 1 includes a mounting unit 11, a guiding unit 12 that is mounted on the mounting unit 11, a receiving member 13 that has a receiving space 131, a track member 14 that is connected to the guiding unit 12, and a counter 15 that is disposed on the track member 14.
The mounting unit 11 includes a mounting seat 111 and a base plate 112 that is disposed on the mounting seat 111 and formed with an engaging groove (not shown) extending therethrough. The guiding unit 12 includes a rotary member 121, a plurality of pusher bolts 122, a guiding member 123, a cover plate 124, a swing arm 126, a positioning bolt 127 and a spring 128. The rotary member 121 is rotatably disposed on the base plate 112 at a position corresponding to the receiving space 131 of the receiving member 13. The pusher bolts 122 extend from a front side of the base plate 112 toward the rotary member 121. The guiding member 123 is rotatably disposed on the base plate 112 and is spaced apart from the rotary member 121. The cover plate 124 is connected to the base plate 112, cooperates with the base plate 112 to define a guiding space 120 in which the rotary member 121 is partially received, and has a sliding groove 125 that is communicated with the guiding space 120 in alignment with the engaging groove of the base plate 112. The swing arm 126 is pivotally mounted on the base plate 112. The positioning bolt 127 is connected co-movably to the swing arm 126 and engages slidably the sliding groove 125 of the cover plate 124 and the engaging groove of the base plate 112. The spring 128 is disposed on a back side of the base plate 112, and has two opposite ends respectively fixed on the base plate 112 and the positioning bolt 127.
The rotary member 121 has a rotary body 1211 formed with a plurality of coin-receiving openings 1212 for receiving coins 2 from the receiving space 131 of the receiving member 13, and a plurality of limiting element sets 1213 each being disposed between a respective adjacent pair of the coin-receiving openings 1212. The guiding member 123 has a guiding body 1231 and a plurality of angularly spaced-apart guiding arms 1232 connected to the guiding body 1231.
The track member 14 has a passageway 141 in communication with the guiding space 120. The coins 2 are conveyed from the guiding unit 12 to pass through the passageway 14, and are counted by the counter 15.
During rotation of the rotary member 121 and the guiding member 123, the pusher bolts 122 and the limiting element sets 1213 cooperatively propel each of the coins 2 which are disposed between the rotary body 1211 and the base plate 112 into the guiding space 120. The guiding arms 1232 then advance the coin 2 by virtue of the rotation of the guiding member 123 to push against the positioning bolt 127. The positioning bolt 127 is thereby propelled to slide a sufficient distance along the sliding groove 125 of the cover plate 124, such that the spring 128 is driven by the positioning bolt 127 to have a restoring force that can move back the positioning bolt 127 and consequently urge the coin 2 to enter the passageway 141. If the slide distance of the positioning bolt 127 along the sliding groove 125 of the cover plate 124 is insufficient, the coin 2 will be jammed between the guiding arms 1232 and the positioning bolt 127. If the slide distance of the positioning bolt 127 is excessive in the sliding groove 125 of the cover plate 124, the guiding arms 1232 will carry the coin 2 to pass by the entrance of the passageway 141 before the spring 128 can restore to urge the coin 2. In either case, the coin 2 is unable to successfully enter the passageway 141. Therefore, the length of the sliding groove 125 has to be determined based on the size of the coins 2 in order to appropriately limit the slide movement of the positioning bolt 127. However, the conventional coin counting apparatus 1 with the fixed-length sliding groove 125 cannot count coins of different sizes.